Volvo XC90: Driving an online campaign towards award-winning print.

Eventually parked between the pages of

"The Luerzer’s Archives".

2003: The first SUV from Volvo arrives in the UAE!

You get sweaty palms and your heart beats like an engine when you start thinking of how big your automotive communication canvas can be…when briefed that our agency was going to launch the Volvo XC90, Volvo’s first ever SUV in the UAE, in mid 2003. This was a big move ahead from the brand’s ‘safety legacy’ of sedans and cross-country estate cars. It also marked a whole new direction that demanded an equally new narration.

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Milestone stories in every mile, waiting to be told!

There were lots of stories to be told about this exciting new and muscular SUV from Volvo. Among them, its’ roll over stability, proven traction and of course, its eye-catching muscular and sleek sculpted body, a bold move away from the boxy Volvo of yore.

The menu of such features was of course, delectable treats for motor heads looking to mix on-road driving pleasure and off-road adventure in a Volvo. The bar in expectations were raised high in creating appeal for a whole new generation of car lovers looking for the big three must-haves in an endearing legacy: styling and performance, and of course, safety (that is already entrenched in the Volvo brand DNA!

Creating demand for online bookings

We dramatized that first feeling and excitement of an online booking experience for the new Volvo XC90, at Al-Futtaim Trading Enterprises showrooms (Volvo’s distributor in the UAE) by replicating it like a page on print ads and posters.

By dramatising the cursor ‘hand’ as a symbol of Volvo’s safety reassurance as a nod to the Volvo brand legacy of safety, we created a series of ads and showroom posters announcing its pre-launch and post launch. The creative approach engagingly married visual graphics of the hand cursor, with that of succinct copy that subtly underlined its benefits and reassurance.

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A great show of hands:

The campaign drove a sizeable number of footfalls to the showroom and our objective of clocking an equally sizeable number of test-drives for the XC90 was achieved.

It attracted a new demographic of younger customers to its fold which was a large part of the objective of launching this sporty SUV.

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Recognition:

The icing on the cake was that the campaign was one of the handful few from the Middle East, chosen to be featured in the Automotive section of the October 2003 edition of the Luerzer’s Archive.

Here’s a snapshot of the ads from the actual edition, with the credits below:

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Key learnings:

1)??? You don’t always have to make the product shout out loudly in an ad. Just dramatize your benefit in the best way possible.

2)??? You can marry irreverent visuals, and an equally irreverent headline and body copy that don’t have to sound like a list of features that sound ChatGPT-generated.

3)??? Even when working for the distributor (in this case Al-Futtaim Trading Enterprises), you can do great global work for your principal brand (Volvo).

4)??? Even when working in a local market, you can think of universal, globally appealing ideas and this one is living proof.

5)??? Oh, and have fun.

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